Door and step for passenger-vehicles



(No Model.)

P. HBRDIG.

Door and Step for Passenger Vehicles. No. 242,315. Patented May 31,1881.

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(No Model.)

P. HERDIG. Door and Step for Passenger Vehicles.

N0. 242,315 Patented May 3%, i881.

TINTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PETER HERDIO, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

DOOR AND STEP FOR PASSENGER-VEHICLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 242,315, dated May 31, 1881.

Application filed January 17, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, PETER'HERDIO, of the city of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Doors and Steps for PassengenVehicles, of which the following is a specitication.

My invention relates to improvements in steps or platforms and doors for passenger-vehicles, such as street-cars, coaches, &c., and

especially that type of such class of vehicles in which doors controllable by the drivers are provided.

In an application for Letters Patent of the United States entitled Improvements in Passenger-Vehicles, filed by me simultaneously herewith, are shown and described certain features similar to or substantially the same as some of the features hereinafter referred to and illustrated in the annexed drawings. Such parts or combinations which are common to the improvements described or shown in the said application and hereinafter are not herein claimed.

In accordance with my present invention, I provide outwardly-opening swinging-doors (or it may be a single door, if preferred) under the control of the driver, and attach to each door, upon its inner side and near its hinged edge, a hand-bracket or grasp-rod for use when the door is open, and by which passengers may steady or support themselves in entering and leaving the vehicle. The doors, when closed and secured by the driver, shut in a suitable step or platform, so as entirely to seclude it as wellas prevent access to the hand -brackets from without. The step or platform is set in or formed partly (or it may be wholly) within the vertical plane of the end wall or rear of the vehicle, and the doors are automatically thrown open when unfastened or released by the driver.

The subject-matter claimed will hereinafter be designated, after first fully describing my improvements, in connection-with such parts of my invention in the before-referred-to application as are deemed necessary to a full understanding of my present invention.

In the accompanying drawings, my improvements areillustratedin connection with a H erdic coach, such, in general features of construction, as that shown in United States Letters Patentgranted to me April 20, 1880.

Figure l is a view showing the rear of the body of the vehicle and the doors, one of which is partly broken away to expose the recessed step. Fig. 2 is a similar view with the doors open. Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section on the line 3 3 ofFig. 1, the vehicle-body being shortened or partly broken away. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on theline44ofFig. 1; Fig. 5, a similar section on the line 5 5 of Fig. 1.

A recess, A, is formed centrally at the rear of the floor or bottom of the body B of a suitable vehicle, and in the line of the passage-way or space between the seats. This recess is preferably curved, as shown, so as not to interfere with the passengers nearest the doorway. A step or platform, 0, set in or terminating at its inner edge within the plane of the rear side or end wall of the body, and curved to correspond with the recess cut out of the vehicle-floor, is supported beneath the level of the floor by a sheet of metal, D, curved to fit the recess A and the rear of the step, to both of which it is fastened by screws or in other suitable way.

tods or brackets or a wooden strip might be substituted for the step-supporting plate D, if preferred. The inwardly-projecting or set-in step 0, unless it be preferred to have it located wholly within the vertical plane of the rear of the vehicle-body, projects slightly to the rear, as shown, and is curved at its outer edge.

Hinged handleless or knobless doors E E, nn provided with any means for controlling or operatin g them from the rear or outside, or for grasping them from without when closed, are provided with springs 0 e, by which they are opened automatically when left free to swing,

' and these doors are controlled by the driver, in

his seat F,by suitable means, consisting, in this instance, of pull-cords G g g, the cords g g being attached to the doors and passed around pulleys near them to the cord Gr, which is provided with a short piece of rubber, H, or its equivalent, and also with a hook or ring at its front end to secure the doors to a hook, h.

The short length of rubber accommodates variations in the length of the pull-cords, and enables the doors to be held under tension when closed and secured by the driver.

Upon the insides of the doors, and near the edges by which they are hinged, suitable handbrackets or grasp-rods I I are provided to aid persons in entering and leaving the vehicle.

Instead of two doors, it is obvious that one only might be employed to span the doorway and shut in the step. The step might be straight at its outer edge, and the door or doors be correspondingly shaped, instead of being curved, as shown. The curved form is, however, preferable, both on account of looks and as affording more room or greater width at the center of the step.

When the doors are closed and secured not only is the platform secluded and protected, but the hand-brackets are inaccessible from the outside, and so the platform cannot be ridden upon, nor can the rear of the vehicle be clung to.

By setting in the step it will be obvious that there is less strain exerted upon the vehicle springs and body when persons are riding upon the step, or entering and leaving the vehicle, than there would be were the commonly employed proj ectin g platform or step used, and leverage thereby increased, so as to cause weight upon the step to rock the vehicle or depress its rear end inj uriously.

Other and suitable forms of steps or platforms may, if preferred, be employed in connection with the doors and theirhand-brackets, or one such door, and together with suitable controlling means, to be operated by the driver, to allow the door or doors to swing open and to close and hold it or them.

I do not claim set-in steps by themselves; nor do I claim, broadly, the combination of such steps and doors for shutting them in.

I claim as of my own invention 1. The before-described automatically-opening swinging door for a vehicle, said door hein g destitute of means for grasping itfrom without or at rear when closed, and having the inside grasp-rod or hand-bracket, as and for the purpose described.

2. The combination of a vehicle step or platform the kn obless or handleless automaticallyopening outwardly-swinging door, the inside grasp-rod or hand-bracket, and means control lable by the driver, by which to close and secure the door, substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore set forth.

3. The combination, substantially as hereinbefore set forth, of the set'in step, the hinged doors swung outwardly automatically, the grasp-rods or hand-brackets thereon, near their hinged edges, and the pull-cords controlled by the driver.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

I. HERDIO.

Witnesses:

WM. J. PEY'ION, JOSEPH I. PEY'ION. 

